Mushrooms for Alzheimer’s?

According to Wisdom in mushrooms, Local doctor believes he may have found the cure to Alzheimer’s disease by Jason Horton:

Recently, through extensive research with collaborators at the University of Texas and Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and through his own work, Hausman may have found an effective treatment, even prevention, for Alzheimer’s disease.

“I believe that we have discovered a way to slow down the development of Alzheimer’s disease … possibly even Parkinson’s disease,” he said. “Is it a cure? We don’t know for sure right now, but the research is compelling.”

The key in all this is natural, organic, edible specialty mushrooms. More specifically, the Agaricus blazei.

UV Irradiation of Mushrooms

MycoRant previously made note of the use of UV radiation to up the vitamin D concentration in mushrooms, and this seems to play a role in the claims. Like I always say, “What’s true for fruit flies, it true for humans.” Oh wait, that’s “yeast.” Never mind.

More on Agaricus blazei (perhaps more properly called Agaricus subrufescens?)

(Wikipedia article is flagged so I’m not going to link it)

Agaricus blazei at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

The Medicinal Mushroom Agaricus blazei Murrill: Review of Literature and Pharmaco-Toxicological Problems

Inhibitory effect of Agaricu blazei Murill components on abnormal collagen fiber formation in human hepatocarcinoma cells (See also links on right side panel of this one)

Effects of the medicinal mushroom Agaricus blazei Murill on immunity, infection and cancer

Agaricus subrufescens at Mushroom Expert

Cordyceps militaris getting the job done (Jason Hollinger)

According to Scientists discover how Cordyceps mushrooms fight cancer by S. L. Baker, recent research has made progress in understanding how cordycepin, isolated from Cordyceps fungi (Ascomycota), may act to inhibit the growth and spread of cancer cells:

The University of Nottingham scientists found that the Cordyceps-derived treatment has two important effects on cells that could impact the growth of malignant tumors. At low doses, cordycepin inhibits the uncontrolled growth and division of cells while at high doses it prevents cells from sticking together, essentially blocking the cells from growing.

The original research, CORDYCEPIN INHIBITS PROTEIN SYNTHESIS AND CELL ADHESION THROUGH EFFECTS ON SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and is available as a free PDF. Very cool.

The University of Nottingham published a press release on the research on December 22, 2009.

More on Cordyceps and cordycepin:

New insights into mushroom-derived drug promising for cancer treatment

Cordyceps at wikipedia

Cordyceps information from Sloan-Kettering

Cordyceps militaris at Mushroom Expert

Cordycepin at National Cancer Institute Drug Dictionary

Paul Stamets with a large agarikon (Wiki Commons/Dusty Yao-Stamets)

Andy Isaacson of Mother Jones has written an in-depth article discussing a wide range of work, including a significant amount of biographical background, involving Paul Stamets of Fungi Perfecti.

The Search for an Endangered Mushroom That Could Cure Smallpox, TB and Bird Flu begins aboard a boat. (Note: It’s a five page article but this link above leads to one long page containing the entire article).

In the old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest grows a bulbous, prehistoric-looking mushroom called agarikon. It prefers to colonize century-old Douglas fir trees, growing out of their trunks like an ugly mole on a finger. When I first met Paul Stamets, a mycologist who has spent more than three decades hunting, studying, and tripping on mushrooms, he had found only two of these unusual fungi, each time by accident — or, as he might put it, divine intervention.

Stamets believes that unlocking agar­i­kon’s secrets may be as important to the future of human health as Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillium mold’s antibiotic properties more than 80 years ago. And so on a sunny July day, Stamets is setting off on a voyage along the coastal islands of southern British Columbia in hopes of bagging more of the endangered fungus before deforestation or climate change irreparably alters the ecosystems where it makes its home. Agarikon may be ready to save us — but we may have to save it first.

Articles that go into this much detail about an individual and his work don’t come around that often, so check it out.

The author is apparently not a scientist since a few goofs do sneak in. Goofs such as:

Project BioShield, the Department of Health and Human Services’ biodefense program, has found that agarikon is highly resistant to many flu viruses including, when combined with other mushrooms, bird flu. And a week before the trip, the National Center for Natural Products Research, a federally funded lab at the University of Mississippi, concluded that it showed resistance to orthopox viruses including smallpox — without any apparent toxicity.

Uh, yeah of course it’s “resistant” to bird flu and smallpox–it’s a mushroom! Mushrooms are not susceptible to these diseases. We know what he was trying to say though, so we’ll let it slide since overall it is a really good read.

David Spahr’s book Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of New England and Eastern Canada is now available for a MycoRant review. The publisher will send a copy to the reviewer directly. If you are a mycologist at a New England or Eastern Canadian university, or a knowledgeable member of a club from these parts (not including a club that David Spahr is also a member of) you may request the book by email or in the comment section below, or tweet a direct message to MycoRant. Let’s get it done!

Cover of Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of New England and Eastern Canada

According to company scientist Dr. John Holliday:  “The value we are offering to these post-doctoral students is they are able to come here and put the theoretical knowledge they learned in the universities into day-to-day practice. Getting a PhD doesn’t teach you how to make things. It just gives you the idea of how a thing can be made.”

The company offers some free downloadable mushroom growing handbooks.

According to the company website:

“Aloha Medicinals Inc. is a company made up of real people, devoted to bringing the latest and most effective Medicinal Mushroom products to the American public, at reasonable prices. Our staff includes Mycologists, Microbiologists and Health Care Professionals from several fields. We are the actual manufacturers of the products we offer, and all of our products are fully USDA Certified Organic. We are striving to provide the public with the alternative medicine options they need. We use only Organically Grown (certified organic by third party – Quality Assurance International), non-irradiated, non-GMO natural products in our manufacture of the finest Health Supplements available today. We use no fillers, preservatives or additives in our products.”